How Kanye West Is Redefining Masculinity for the Hip-Hop Generation

One women's blouse at a time.

Kanye West disrupted the status quo of hip-hop style with the grace of a bull in a Givenchy store. When the self-proclaimed “slave to fashion” first emerged onto the rap scene back in 2002, he was markedly different than his peers. Donning Ralph Lauren polo bears and backpacks, the Chicago MC shattered the normal aesthetic of rappers, who were largely outfitted in tall tees, oversized sports jerseys and baggy jeans.

Though Kanye is far from the first rapper to break fashion stereotypes or reach for pink clothes, the Louis Vuitton Don blazed an unprecedented path into the high-end fashion world. With stunts like his listening party/fashion show housed at Madison Square Garden, and his friendships with fashion folks like Riccardo Tisci, Anna Wintour and Phoebe Philo, the multi-hyphenate has morphed into a credible fashion icon. But the brilliance of this visionary isn’t that he merely brought slimmer fits to hip-hop’s front door. Kanye also shattered definitions of masculinity in rap and, subsequently, imprinted on the next generation.

Kanye's impact on the fashion industry and the youth has been apparent since he swayed kids to wear those God-awful shutter shades and beg their parents to buy them Air Yeezys. Later, he singlehandedly introduced street kids to Phillip Lim with the ballerina-laden genius of Runaway. And when rap fans watched The Throne roll out all kinds of Givenchy collaborations from leather kilts to album artwork, it proved that individuality and creative expression through fashion trumped archaic gender norms.

Kanye willfully abandoned gender biases by wearing a women's Celine blouse at Coachella, thereby re-fashioning machismo in hip-hop. Of course, due to the genre’s rampant homophobia, naysayers often call the rapper's sexuality into question. But Kanye's never been phased by critics. By wearing gender-fluid looks, he isn’t just eradicating the baseless association of sexual preference and skirts. He’s also birthing an entire group of expressive, open-minded young artists, like A$AP Rocky, Young Thug and Jaden Smith.

Due in part to Yeezy creating positive spaces for men to wear whatever the hell they want, Jaden champions gender fluidity in his recent Louis Vuitton ads, and Thugga has no qualms admitting that “90 percent of my clothes are women's.” Even rappers A$AP Rocky and Kendrick Lamar have credited The Life of Pablo MC for influencing their decidedly fitted wares. Not to mention, you can’t walk five blocks in NYC’s downtown scene without spotting at least 10 Yeezy lookalikes.

Though Kanye's so-called rants are occasionally ill-received, he has a point: "I am so credible and so influential and so relevant that I will change things.” And that he has. No matter how much critics slam his Yeezy collections, Kanye is a visionary with the power to change how people dress. He’s impressive far beyond the mic. His ever-evolving domination in fashion has made him one of the most influential figures in the style game. And the kids are taking notes, bro.